Sport

Wednesday, 04 September 2019 18:52

Don't just spectate, agitate! Bury, Bolton, and the capitalist takeover of football

Written by Doc Ritchie

in Sport

Doc Ritchie tells us to resist capitalist accumulation in football by tightening regulation and changing the ownership and management of football clubs. Images courtesy of fan-owned Clapton FC Football is a game owned by billionaires, played by millionaires, and paid for by you. Premier League players have no real relationship…

Wednesday, 17 July 2019 13:44

What do they know of cricket, that only cricket know?

Written by Mark Perryman

in Sport

Mark Perryman criticises the exclusive way some sports are managed, and suggests some progressive policies to bring out all the benefits of sport – for the many, not the few. Cricket’s version of the ‘years of hurt’ – 44 in this case – came to a spectacular end early last…

World Cup CLR James

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 04 July 2019 09:37

Liberté, Egalité, Velocité: the Bicyclists' Road to Socialism

in Sport

Written by Mark Perryman

As Le Tour begins, Mark Perryman offers up a 5-point transitional programme for a cycling revolution It's July – the month when since 2012 first Wiggins, then Froome, and last year Thomas, turn Le Maillot Jaune into Le Maillot Britannique. Or in Thomas’ case Le Maillot Gallois. And on the…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Thursday, 09 May 2019 10:36

Spring into Sport

in Sport

Written by Mark Perryman

In the run-up to several of one sport’s major prizes, Philosophy Football’s Mark Perryman reviews Spring books on sport and the perennial struggle against commercialising, capitalist pressures. April. The Carabao, or those of us a tad old skool, League Cup Final is long gone. The FA Cup staggering its past-the-sold-by-date…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Wednesday, 17 April 2019 17:16

Culture Punch: reforming the videogames industry

in Sport

Written by Paul Victor Tims

Paul V. Tims looks at the games industry from a socialist perspective It probably won’t surprise my regular readers to learn that I love videogames. What better way to escape the turgid, late-capitalist nightmare-world we all inhabit than by stepping into an entire other life where you’re an infinitely-customisable mass…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Sunday, 09 December 2018 21:56

Killing the FA Cup by the pound

in Sport

Written by Martin Cloake

Martin Cloake criticises the power of TV money over football, and the failure of governance arrangements to protect the integrity of the game. Tranmere Rovers or Southport, will play, Tottenham Hotspur. It’s the kind of draw that makes the FA Cup third round special. League Two or National League North…

Tuesday, 31 July 2018 08:17

Le Maillot Gallois: Tour de France 2018

Written by Mark Perryman

in Sport

C’est magnifique, Geraint! declares cycling fan Mark Perryman, and calls on Labour to develop a socialist culture policy to encourage popular, grassroots cycling. Britain took 109 years to achieve its very first Tour de France winner in 2012. And now we can hardly stop winning it, with the single exception of Italy’s…

Tour de France Geraint Thomas Culture policies jeremy corbyn

Wednesday, 11 July 2018 08:07

Fields of Play

Written by Mark Perryman

in Sport

As England prepare for their first World Cup semi-final for 28 years, Mark Perryman joins the dots between pitches and politics and makes a practical suggestion to the Labour Party about developing a 'football for all'. It seems like almost yesterday that ‘Football’s Coming Home’ became England’s national anthem, an…

Friday, 06 July 2018 08:54

Here we go, here we go......again: the cultural struggle in football over Englishness

Written by Mark Perryman

in Sport

Philosophy Football’s Mark Perryman dares to hope for victory for an ethnically diverse, working-class England team, and for a progressive outcome to the cultural struggle against a xenophobic, racist populism. The England team's success so far offers an entertaining, enjoyable metaphor for a more co-operative, collective approach to life –…

World Cup England team

Wednesday, 04 July 2018 19:21

Will England’s World Cup success embolden nationalist Brexiteers? You better believe it......

Written by Stuart Cartland

in Sport

Stuart Cartland responds to Mark Perryman's article with a more cautious assessment of the potential for extracting progressive cultural meanings from the success of the England team. As much as I want to believe in the positive force of seeing a strong and unified young multicultural English team do well…

England team World Cup jeremy corbyn